The Crimsonwood Keep
by knetterzak
Summary: When two chemists decide to go on a grand expedition to seek out the forgotten secrets of the deceased grandmasters of Masteria, they didn't count on the inhibitants still being alive. Sort of alive, then. At the other side of the continent there's a mysterious woman and a man who isn't who everybody think he is. And then there's the ever growing darkness in the Temple of Time...


**Chapter one **

* * *

Kevin is trekking through the lush forest that surrounds Ellinia. The sun is shining exceptionally bright for this time of year. An occasional slime crosses his path.

_I've been trekking through these woods for what seems like hours! I still haven't found it._

A sigh escapes his throat and he purses his lips in determination. He knows that the plant he is looking for is rare, but not _that_ rare.

He continues his search until he reaches a small clearing. The bright sunrays fall on his tanned complexion, bringing the corners of his mouth up in a faint smile. Autumn generally brings angry storm clouds and strong winds, but not today. Various bird calls can be heard combined with the buzzing of a multitude of insects. Today the sun managed to break through the heavy clouds and thick foliage of the trees. It was still quite chilly, though.

Feeling quite content Kevin decides to take a short break to rest his legs and soak up some sun light. The soft grass is warm to the touch as he lowers himself to the ground, discarding his light backpack behind him to serve as a pillow.

Carson had sent him on a wild goose chase to find a particular type of plant that normally blooms in late autumn, and not _mid_ autumn, as he himself protested repeatedly. Yet, the stubborn chemist paid his words no heed and even offered him to pay extra for the risk, "_if that concerns you_". Of course it concerned him, he doesn't want to spend a total of roughly twenty hours on a flying ship and then trek through a dense forest, only to return empty handed. But, the chemist didn't budge.

Here he is then, in the middle of a clearing, empty handed. _At least it's not raining_, he thinks with an amused grimace. He hopes he didn't jinx himself just now.

He takes out his canteen, taking a swig. He thinks of eating something, but decided against it. He is not hungry anyway.

Why would Carson want those seeds so badly? He's been a bit twitchy as of late, more so than normal. If he didn't know any better he would suspect the man of things of a more sinister nature. He doesn't know why, but it's just a general mental image he has of chemists in general. Not Carson though, he knows Carson.

His little moment of peace was ruined when a cloud moved in front of the sun, leaving him feeling cold and weary.

He got up again with a sigh, slinging his backpack over his right shoulder. Feeling agitated that his search has proven to be in vain so far he gives another sigh in slight defeat. How is he ever going to find the bloody plant if it is not even in bloom yet? It is well camouflaged in the dense forest. Normally he would find it by it's flowers that are a vibrant midnight blue, or it's oval shaped purple fruits. Finding it while it is not in bloom would be nearly impossible.

With no flowers the chance of the plant bearing fruits is downright impossible.

With another sigh he turned around and starts the trek back to Ellinia, hoping that this time the ship won't rock so hard because of the strong winds. He doesn't exactly have a stomach made of steel, something that proves most unfortunate when a flying airship decides to constantly rock from left to right like a crib being rocked by a mother trying to soothe her baby.

**Ҩ**

The boat ride is tedious. He has been watching a couple of kids running around, chasing each other. He's not sure if he's amused or annoyed by their enthusiasm. He decides on annoyed when another wave of nausea hits him. He tightens his grip on the railing, keeping a fixed gaze on the horizon.

After the wave of nausea was gone and only a heavy queasy feeling in his stomach remains he feels confident enough to move again. He slowly releases his grip from the railing, carefully stepping across the deck, trying not to trip with of the swaying of the ship, and heads below deck to his room.

_It will be a long ride, I might as well try to sleep through the majority of it_, he muses. It's that, or sulking over his failed mission in finding the requested seeds. He knows it's not his fault, but still, he wasted all this time and now has to ride on this device of nausea hell again. He wasn't pleased, at all.

Another wave of nausea hit him, causing him to double over on his mattress in an attempt of containing the bile that threatens to spill out of his mouth. That attempt fails horribly and he has just enough time to reach the toilet.

_Carson will be so amused by this when he finds out I got seasick during both rides. That sadistic bastard._

**Ҩ**

Slowly the floating crystals that keep Orbis in the air become visible through the morning fog. It's early in the morning and the moon sits high up in the sky.

Kevin lets out a yawn, stretching out his stiff muscles in the process. A sudden decrease in the ship's speed had woken him from his sleep a few minutes ago. With the decrease in speed it will only be a matter of time before they will land.

Glad that the rocking has gone to a minimum he gets up from bed. He is still wearing all his clothes. He hadn't bothered to take them off when he had covered his cold body with the thick sheets a couple of hours ago. He needed everything he had to fight off the cold.

He grabs a bag out of his backpack and starts munching on some flattened bread he had taken with him from Orbis. _I should probably have put it in a lunch box of the sorts,_ he concludes, eyeing the squashed bread with cheese in his hand. It will have to do. At least the nausea isn't so bad right now, allowing him to eat something without it wanting to immediately travel back up again.

He takes a mouth full of stale water from his canteen and gets up from the bed, brushing off any crumbs that might have fallen on him from the bread.

The ship is in the process of landing at one of Orbis' ports. Several groups of people are present on the deck, gazing at the city in front of them. Giant purple and pink crystals are attached to thick ropes and cables, connecting the city with them. The streets are deserted, which isn't that strange at this hour. It will be a couple of more hours till sun rise after all.

The buildings are elegant, painted in a general light pink color. The structures look delicate with many decorations embedded into them. The top of the buildings bear wings, sometimes more than one pair of them. They dance in the wind, making it appear as if they hold the buildings up with their grace.

Kevin can see one of the larger towers of the Order of Orbis sticking out from the other buildings. He's standing against the railing, both hands firmly attached to the wood. The nausea hadn't quite left his system yet. _such a drag_.

"Why the sour face, mister?" A female voice chirps besides him. A woman with dirty blond hair leans against the railing next to him. He is so not in the mood to deal with happy people right now. It's just too early for that.

"Seasick" he says dismissively. He hopes that she takes the hint and minds her own business.

"What brings you to Orbis?"

_Inward sigh_

"I live here."

"Really? That sounds mighty fancy. I'm here to visit a friend."

"Ok."

"When we get off the ship, could you point me in the right direction? I need to go to the Order of Orbis, you see." She says with a sheepish expression.

His interest mildly piqued at the words "Order of Orbis".

"Why the Order of Orbis?"

"Like I said, to visit a friend!" She chirps happily.

_Ugh, happy people. Too early._

Who is a girl supposed to visit at the Order of Orbis looking like _that_? The Order of Orbis is a prestigious organization of scholars, and her clothes look sallow and worn. She doesn't look like a magician either.

"Something wrong?"

Kevin is snapped from his thoughts by the woman's voice. She's giving him a pointed look. Did she notice that he was looking her up and down?

_Probably._

"Oh, er no. I was just thinking." He mutters.

After a moment he sees her head turning away from him from the corner of his eye, her gaze now fixed on the silver clouds drifting in the early morning sky.

**Ҩ**

"I'm back." He calls out to the darkness.

Carson's study is large and packed with book cases. The walls _are_ practically book cases to be more precise. The wooden floor creaks slightly under Kevin's weight as he makes his way over to the large desk at the far end of the room. It's littered with various books and bottles with colored fluids in them, along with sheets of paper that have Carson's hand writing on them.

The desk stands in front of a big arched window, moonlight illuminating the dark room. It seems that the chemist isn't awake yet, which isn't that strange. Carson rises early, but not _that_ early. Most of the time, that is.

Glad that he wouldn't have to disappoint the chemist just yet he sneaks to his room. Trying to be as quiet as possible he strips of his clothes and changes into pajamas. Satisfied with the softness of his own bed he body hugs his pillow, falling asleep.

**Ҩ**

Kevin wakes up to the sound of muffled voices originating from the living room. Carson seems to be talking with someone.

_A woman?_

Being as quiet as possible he changes into jeans and a simple green t-shirt. He sneaks out of his room, pressing his ear against the door leading to the living room.

Many times of eavesdropping made him recognize Carson's voice perfectly. Somehow the older man is always on to him, though. This often resulted in him having to do nasty choirs like cleaning used test tubes when he was caught. The voice of the woman sounds familiar, but he can't place it.

"-ery discipline. Such weird peculiar conditions. At least we already have two mages" comes Carson's muffled voice. Apparently the woman is a mage, just like Carson. Carson is a skilled poison-fire mage. He often creates small flames to heat things up and for warmth and light. Even though he is skilled in magic, his heart truly lies in alchemy. Luckily alchemy goes well together with magic.

"so that leaves two archers, two warriors, a pair of thieves, and a pirate duo."

_What the hell are they talking about?_

"Hm, peculiar requirements indeed, but let's stick to them. I rather not take any chances in a place like that. Being presumably cursed and all..." says the woman's muffled voice.

_Cursed? What?_

"I've already prepared almost all the potions. I just need one more ingredient for the Diem elixirs. I send Kevin to get it and I hope he managed to get it. I wonder where that boy is at. The ship should already have arrived some time ago."

_He doesn't know I'm back yet? Oh that's just grand. I could pull a prank on them or something..._

It's quiet for a moment. Did Carson notice him eavesdropping again? He really needs to find out how the man does it. He hears the woman say something, but it was too muffled for him to make out the words.

Suddenly the door stops supporting him and he stumbles into the living room with a yelp, hitting the floor with a thud. He feels something warm above him, but before he could see what it was it was gone. He stares at Carson's bewildered face.

"Uh oh." comes the woman's voice from behind the man in front of him. He looks past Carson and his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. After a few seconds he recovers from his initial shock. He just stares at the amused expression of the woman with a scowl.

_Oh the irony._

"Why the sour face, mister?" She chirps at him.

**{✤}**

The air is crisp. Her trunk levitates in front of her, and with a flick of her wand it begins to move.

_I'll have to change before I come knocking on his door. I look like a tramp_, she muses embarrassed. She thinks back of the man on the boat, how he had looked her up and down with a disapproving look. She hates it when people judge others by their looks. It's the inside that matters, after all.

With a sigh she ascends the few steps that lead to the entrance of the main tower of the Order of Orbis. The doors are closed.

While muttering an inward "_shit"_ she walks down the steps again. She arrived a couple of hours early, can't expect the building to be open yet. Still, she hated the prospect of waiting for hours on end. At least this gives her more than enough time to change into something more decent until she would meet the man she has been exchanging letters with for months.

The streets are deserted.

_Where is she going to find a place to change around her_e?

With a sigh she begins the walk back to the harbor. She'll be able to change there. Her trunk follows after her. The town is still fast asleep, save for a few houses that have the lights on. Carson will be up in a few hours.

The harbor is crowded with people waiting for their flights and workers lifting goods on stationed ships. Maneuvering through the groups of people she circles around a group of elderly woman to reach what seems to be a restroom. The little pictogram of a man and a woman confirm this and she steps into one of the small booths. The space is quite dirty and she would prefer something more decent, but it will have to do. She is feeling too tired from the ride to care about some filthy toilet sright now.

She wants to make a good first impression. Perhaps the blue outfit? It suits her very well, filling out her figure. The long sleeves are partly transparent and it ends just above her knees.

_Too chilly._

She changes into purple sleeveless robes that end just above the ground. A golden line runs along the center and it bears the symbol of the crescent moon. With it goes a white vest with long sleeves and hood. The outfit is called _The Explorers Moonlight_, and It's one of her favorites.

Finishing it off with a change of shoes she zips up her now messy trunk and steps outside into the crisp morning air.

_It sure was difficult changing in such a small space with a trunk that initially took up two third of the space, making it even more difficult. Worth it, though._

She will have to bide her time for another two hours. She sits down on a bench, looking at an airship that is in the proces of taking off. She loves flying, it makes her feel liberated. Before she started studying chemistry at Magatia she signed up as a medic on one of those magnificent ships. _Serenity_ it was called, a beautiful ship that flew all around Maple World, moving goods from one continent to the other.

She pulls the hood over her head to shield her face from the unhindered wind coming from the West. She watches the ship gain heigth with a few other bystanders that are waiting to board their own flight.

The ship's frame is made of a light gray metal, much like all the other ships anchored here right now. The white sails are being supported by three wooden poles. The middle pole rests on top of a leveled plateau that has a door leading below deck. Engines are attached to the back of the ship, pushing the ship forward. The ship is decorated with multiple crystals that are enchanted to make the ship lighter.

_Without those it would be impossible to lift off_, she thinks amused. They hold the same levitating properties as the giant pink quartz crystals that hold Orbis in the air, only weaker.

She remembers that when she had just joined the _Serenity_ crew she threw them overboard to try to make the ship lighter one time when the ship was too loaded with cargo to hold itself in the air properly, reasoning that _"They were just decorations anyway, and that otherwise they could cras"'_. Her captain was royally pissed. Eventually they had to make an emergency landing and she was forced to collect all the crystals she had thrown overboard, _"as punishment for her ignorance"_.

She takes out a book. Reading is always a good strategy to kill time. With no other airships to observe in action she opens _Advanced Alchemy: The Art of Healing _on the page where she left_. _

_Roughly one and a half hour left of waiting._

******Ҩ**

_Knock knock_

The door creaks open, revealing a man in his thirties with a passive expression. His face lights up when he sees her.

"Merel?!" Carson asks happily. He didn't expect her to arrive so early. "Did you arrive just now?"

"Yeah, it's so good to finally meet you, Carson!" She exclaims with equal happiness. She doesn't like lying to Carson, but she doesn't want him to feel bad either about the fact that she had to sit on a cold bench for two hours, waiting.

"Likewise. Come in, I already made some tea."

Glad to be out of the cold she follow after the raven haired man into what seems to be the living room.

_Carson has even more books than her._

She eyes the walls that are basically made of bookcases, filled to the brink with books. Then again, Carson _is_ a scholar. Having a lot of books is practically a job requirement for that field, so it seems.

"Have a seat." Carson gestures to three big comfortable armrest chairs that are positioned around a low standing table. There are a few books stacked on the table like pillars along with a few notes next to it in a neat pile. The place looks very organized, much unlike her own apartment in Magatia.

She sits down in the chair that's next to the chair she assumes Carson was sitting in, judging by the cup standing next to it on a small table. Behind the table there's a little fire going in a small fireplace. Various bottled experiments adorn the mantle. In the middle there's a photo of a group of what she believes to be students at the academy Carson teaches. Carson is standing at the right side, smiling sheepishly.

"What kind of tea would you like?" Calls Carson from what she assumes is the kitchen.

"Anything will do. As long as it's not Earl Gray or melon." She's more of a fruit person, save for the melon flavor.

_That stuff is horrid..._

Earl Gray is too bitter for her liking.

"Mint it is then." She hears him mutter absentmindedly.

Carson's apprentice must not be up yet. The scholar had allowed him a room in his apartment since the boy didn't have a place to stay. In exchange he would assist him in his experiments and help him fetch potion ingredients.

Carson revealed in one of his letters that he is a solitary man. He doesn't 'hang out' with people, like many people his age do. He spends most of his time reading books and preparing classes for his students. It wouldn't strike her as exceptionally odd if he offered the room just so he would have some company.

Carson hands her her steaming mug and sits down in the chair next to her. Warming her hands with the warm cup she closes her eyes, relaxing into the comfortable armchair.

She glances over at the man sitting next to her to properly take in his appearance. Shoulder length raven black hair, pale complexion. She can't tell the color of his eyes since he has them closed. He's leaning back in his chair with a relaxed expression, hands resting on the arm wrests. He's wearing simple brown robes.

His eyes flicker open and she directs her gaze to the crackling fire.

"Kevin is not back yet from his trip to Ellinia."

"Ah, the infamous apprentice, hm?" She smirks behind her cup.

Carson gives her an amused chuckle. "Yeah, the infamous apprentice. He doesn't really like alchemy, actually. He thinks it's "_Voodoo crap that old bastards obsess about_".

She nearly sprays a mouth full of tea across the table at that. Hastily swallowing the liquid, she bursts out laughing.

"Voodoo crap that old bastards obsess about? Genius, really."

Carson sighs. "You think? It took him quite some time to stop fretting over every little experiment I did. He thought it was going to blow up or something. Or that I took part in satanic rituals and that one day I would _"sacrifice him for all that is evil"_."

Trying to contain an other wave of laughter she puts her hands over her mouth, grinning sheepishly at Carson's sour expression.

_That he put up with that. He must have the patience of a saint. _Then again, he _is_ a scholar.

'_Being a scholar seems to explain everything..._

They lapse into a comfortable silence, both enjoying their tea and the warmth from the crackling fireplace. After a few minutes Carson clears his throat, snapping Merel out of her thoughts. She was watching the flames dance in the fireplace. She directs her gaze to Carson with slightly raised eyebrows.

"How was the journey?"

"It went smoothly. I traveled in old cloths so I didn't seem like such an appealing target for bandits. That helped, I guess." She says sheepishly.

He looks curiously at the big leather trunk that's laying next to her. "Your trunk looks absolutely loaded. What did you bring with you, if I may ask?"

"Hm, yeah." she muses. "Quite a few things, actually. I brought my own equipment, along with things we might need for the upcoming expedition. Speaking of that, we will need to start recruiting people soon. The document was quite specific about the, er, requirements."

Carson had acquired a very old document that tells of an old castle. The castle and the ground around it was tainted by a man, an alchemist, who cast a curse over the land. The castle housed the grandmasters of the five disciplines: one archer; one mage; one thief; one warrior and one pirate. It's said that at the time of their death they left behind a great treasure. Chests full of gold and gems. Scrolls holding long forgotten spells, and weapons of great power.

"Yes, two of every discipline. Such peculiar conditions. At least we already have two mages" He wiggles his eyebrows at her with a smirk. "so that leaves two archers, two warriors, a pair of thieves, and a pirate duo."

"Hm, peculiar requirements indeed, but let's stick to them. I rather not take any chances in a place like that. Being presumably cursed and all..."

Carson chuckles nervously. He isn't a big fan of cursed things. When he was younger he encountered an item that was enchanted with dark magic. The aura coming of it was vile, it disgusted him.

"I've already prepared almost all the potions. I just need one more ingredient for the Diem elixirs. I send Kevin to get it and I hope he managed to get it. I wonder where that boy is at. The ship should already have arrived some time ago." His brows furrowed.

Suddenly Carson freezes.

"Is someth-" She is stopped by Carson's signal to be quiet. The man swiftly stands up from his chair and grabs a wooden staff - probably his - that's resting against the small table next to the chair. The staff is made of dark wood and at the top lies a well polished white gem.

Walking across the room to a door he pulls it open, and creates a small flame, pointing it at the figuring stumbling into the living room. The figure, a young man with short brown hair groans on the floor. Carson blinks a few times in bewilderment. He lowers his staff and the flame dies.

"Kevin?" He asks surprised.

"Oh, uh, hey." The boy says sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head.

_That voice sounds familiar..._

"Uh oh." Merel says surprised.

The boy stands up and looks behind Carson with questioning eyes that are slightly narrowed.

Kevin stares at her in mild shock.

_Isn't this ironic, hm?_

"Why the sour face, mister?" She chirps with an amused expression.

* * *

**Author note: **Well hello there~ First chapter of my first published story. If you liked it I'd like to hear about it. Every review is extra motivation for me to continue with this story.

**Question:** What is your favorite character in MapleStory?


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